Google Can Calculate How Much Solar Energy Your House Could Generate

If you own your own house, perhaps you've thought about throwing some solar panels up on the old roof in order to cut costs. But exactly how much cost would that cut? And goodness, that seems like a lot of work just to figure out if it's even worth it.

Project Sunroof is Google's latest little doodad and brainchild of engineer Carl Elkin. Using data already present in Google Maps, the service takes into account weather, obstructions, and roof angles to calculate how many solar panels could be theoretically installed and how much money that might save you in terms of electricity. It even takes into account whether you're actually straight up buying solar panels or just leasing them.

The unfortunate bit is that Project Sunroof currently only works in Boston, Fresno, and the San Francisco Bay Area. If you don't live in one of those areas, you'll have to schlepp up to the roof and figure things out yourself like a dang luddite.

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